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A Very Swinging Christmas with The Valerie Coyne Quintet

This will be just a short blog update coz things are so busy at the moment. This thursday is the Christmas gig in Bewleys Cafe Theatre. There'll be lots of mulled wine,festive fun and christmas classics jazz style.
Hope to see you all there!

Singing for my supper is a busy business

Christmas is coming and as someone who just adores everything about the silly season, I couldn't be more excited. At the moment I'm preparing for my upcoming Christmas gig, A Very Swinging Christmas in Bewleys Cafe Theatre (Click here for more details - http://www.bewleyscafetheatre.com/evening.php) and things are going well.
Well that is, apart from trying to arrange rehearsals. Blessed as I'm with the musicians that I work with, because they are all so good, they're all very much in demand which means that trying to get us all together in one room is proving very difficult. But rest assured we'll get it together in time for the big night.
I really want to make this Christmas gig as festive as possible, with mulled wine, decorations and some truly classic jazzy Christmas tunes.
While preparing for the Christmas gig, I've also been playing a few gigs, the most recent being last Friday night. It was a charity gig for An Taisce in the very prestigious Tailors' Hall and all proceeds went to the restoration of the hall. It was a beautiful venue to play, we had a lovely set of swinging jazz standards and we got a great reception from all there. The lovely people who ran the event looked after us very well too. The room had great acoustics and made us sound great, especially the sax (provided by the very talented Dennis Wyjers) Hopefully we'll be able to play there again and bring more people to this truly wonderful building. I'll be chatting to them on monday about maybe doing a Christmas gig there too so watch this space....
As well as working on my own gigs and promoting for others I've recently taken on a new project with a good friend, Tommy Ellis who runs a very successful voice over studio. Together we're putting a vocal workshop together that we can run from his studio. It will allow people to come, have their voice trained and also record a track. This will not only give them tips for using and maintaining their voices but also the experience of working in a real studio and they'll have a track to take away and possibly use to promote themselves and get work. Our first workshop is going to run this coming Saturday the 5th of December so fingers crossed it all goes well.

So with the run of gigs that I've had recently, promoting gigs for others, as well teaching private lessons from home and preparing for the upcoming workshops, I really do feel that my old saying "I'm the girl that sings for her supper" is very apt right now.

Thanks for stopping by,

Valerie. x

for all gig listings please visit www.myspace.com/valeriecoynemusic

teaching,gigging and living life

So I haven't really been keeping up this blog as much as I thought I would. Life and times are getting in the way of sitting down and writing. Included in those times are many, many more students, which I'm very grateful for. It seems that as the recession has hit, people have thought more about doing things for themselves and perusing things that make them happy and thankfully singing is one of those things.
Also I've been preparing for two upcoming gigs, one in Bewleys on the 3rd of October and one in Whelans on the 8th of October.
The gig in Bewleys on the 3rd is with The Jenna Harris Quartet and will be a night of vocal jazz. Jenna was a 4th year in New Park Music College when I started and went on to become a tutor the following year. Her knowledge of jazz and improvisation is outstanding, she has a beautiful voice and her command of standards is to be seen to be believed. I can't wait for my set to be over so I can sit and enjoy her sound.
The gig in Whealans is a bit "and now for something completely different" It will be a night of folk and blues music with a distinct lack of jazz from me, something I haven't done in a very long time. I'm really looking forward to getting back to just blues.
I got the idea to put this gig together because of Geraldine Finn, she has a voice that will raise the hairs on the back of your neck. She used to sing and gig on a regular basis but has put that aside to manage a company and work all the hours that god sends. But it didn't' take much coaxing to get her back on stage and I can't wait to see her play again.
Joining me on stage that night will be Jenny Reyonlds, for those of you who came to the gig in Bewleys in April you will remember her and for those who didn't, well you're in for a treat. We're going to sing some blues and harmonies together and hopefully at the end of the end of the night the 3 of us will do a few songs together too.
Look forward to seeing you there.
x

Courteous breathing

So yesterday I had my Breathe for Singing Workshop in the house. It went really well, at least I hope it did. But 3 people who had booked for it didn't show up, no phone call/text/email nothing, just no shows. What is up with people? Has common courtesy completely left us? I mean it actually worked out ok for me in some ways coz I think if everyone had shown up I'd have had very little room and it was eaiser to give people one to one attention in a small group, but still. I think at the very least a text to say sorry I can't make it would have been nice.
But to be honest, if I'd written this yesterday I would have given out a lot more, but as I had such a good night out last night I'm not feeling that angry anymore




If you would like more information on breathing for singing please mail me

A jazz singer, a teacher & a cat

So as some will know, I'm new to blogging as such have decided to sit down with a rather nice glass (or two) of wine and get to grips with it. My initial plan was to write about my life as jazz singer and vocal coach, with the idea of, a: giving people an idea into what that lifestyle (I use the term loosely) is like and b:possibly drum up some business in the way of students etc
But my misfortunes of late (the bad leg, the cat with the conjunctivitis) have led me in a slightly different direction and while I will, in this blog discuss my day to day teachings/rehearsals/music gigs etc I will also include some of my other moments to add a bit of colour (another loose term) and also provide me with an opportunity to vent.
(Venting, something I discussed over a particularly fine dinner last night and decided that it can be a very beneficial thing. Why should we keep our grievances to ourselves for the sake of perceived social convention, why for example should we not ask someone that we know to say hello to for ten years or more if they do indeed know our name? Yes it may be an embarrassing and awkward situation but surely it will bring us all together? But perhaps that's getting a little too specific......)
So to bring the unaware up to date, I am a jazz/blues singer and I teach singing/vocal care/ear training and music theory from my home in Dun Laoghaire where I live with my ever amusing cat Dusty.
Singing is my joy and pashion and I hope to discuss this and the many aspects of it in these blogs as well as my other joy which is teaching.

For more on my music you can vist www.myspace.com/valeriecoynemuisic
and for more from Dusty you can vist his facebook page - Dusty Coyne - He can be very entertaining and sometimes even a little philisophical

Galdiator I am not

Since spectacularly falling down the travelator in tescos, ripping my ankle up and damaging the ligaments I have gained a new appreciation for, well just about everything. I have spent this week relying on the kindness of neighbors (One in particular who, luckily, has kindness in abundance) and my flatmate,who has, suddenly turned into Mother Teresa, dressed in rugby shirt and dubes of course.
One can't help but wonder, had I trained as an Olympic gymnast as a young girl would I have fallen so dramatically? Had I started life as a synchronised swimmer would i have had more co-ordination? Or could it be the cold hand of karma be coming to get me? "I'll get you my pretty, you and your little dusty too" (thats right, I view karma as the wicked witch from Oz) Hadn't I built up enough "good deed stamps" to avoid that fall, I mean that's what "my name is Earl" would had me believe and surely television is always right?

Well whatever the reason, I'm stuck with a bum leg, there are some pro's and some con's to this.....I just can't think of the pro's right now.


Thanks for reading my first blog :-)